ATIS not Matching METAR

[DementedCorn327]

Thank you using the Bug section, using templates provided will greatly help the team reproducing the issue and ease the process of fixing it.

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

No

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons?

Yes

Brief description of the issue:

ATIS at airports where a METAR exists is reporting Meteoblue forecast instead of reporting similar METAR information (I know that IRL METAR and ATIS info can be slightly different but they are both based on local observation). I guess ATIS source is MB only.

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

METAR is reporting clear sky and ATIS is reporting 2 layers of few clouds. No clouds in the sim as per METAR report.

Looking at MB map, we can see low clouds reported

Provide coordinates (DevMode > Options > Display position)

LFAT airport

Provide time & date of the observed Weather issue

December 16, 2300Z

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

Start a flight (using Live weather) at an airport where ATIS and METAR exist and have significatives differences. Compare values between METAR and MB. ATIS reports data from MB instead of METAR.

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:

I am under Beta 1.30.7.0 but pretty sure this issue exists since METAR implementation in SU7

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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

[Perrry]

Isn’t that also shows that Meteoblue clouds are removed? We had Meteoblue weather at release 2020 and it would be correct if it matched Meteoblue back then. Now it uses both sources (blended) and should match both at the same time right? Blending create a mess. Why couldn’t they convert the ATIS information to generate METAR based of Meteoblue weather as well? Using blending makes us confused.

[DementedCorn327]

@Perrry

Isn’t that also shows that Meteoblue clouds are removed?

Yes, but we already knew that since METAR as priority over MB, that is why we have bubbles.

@Perrry

Why couldn’t they convert the ATIS information to generate METAR based of Meteoblue weather as well?

Agree, that would be the best option we commented in other threads in that forum and would automatically fix this issue and many others generated by the actual METAR implementation.

[DementedCorn327]

Another example from today December 17: LFRS (Nantes), METAR: CAVOK, ATIS: Broken 13,500ft. MB is reporting medium clouds. No clouds in the sim as per METAR report.

[Perrry]

So sad they remove clouds, CAVOK in a METAR doesn’t mean that the sky has no clouds at all. It means “Ceiling and visibility OK” Good weather to fly in. But where in that statement does it say 0 clouds?

For example EGBB:

CAVOK all day.

8 hours ago in the real world.

Meteoblue forecast cross-section of the clouds at that area 8 hours ago

[DementedCorn327]

Yes, unfortunately if CAVOK, we are getting like a cylinder of infinite blue sky above the airport even if high altitude clouds are present like in your photo.

[Perrry]

Lfrs as you shown is exactly same. Reported CAVOK all day but in webcams can for sure see clouds.

near LFRS 8 hours ago:

METARs:

Meteoblue didn’t have historic data for cross-section at lfrs though.

But here is the current cross-section. Shows high clouds. But the METAR says CAVOK.

Well, this thread is about ATIS not Matching METAR. But to me the ATIS should match Meteoblue data. The issue now is that we don’t get Meteoblue weather in the sim around airports anymore.

The ATIS you shown is more accurate to the real world weather than the METAR. But we don’t get that ATIS/meteoblue weather in the sim because some users asked to have METAR decide the weather in the sim.

It’s cool they can report the Meteoblue weather in ATIS. That means they could actually implement generated METARS that reports the Meteoblue weather

Feels a bit too late now when they have completely changed the weather model though.

[DementedCorn327]

The ATIS at LFRS is right vs MB. Prior SU7 we would had clouds (and realistic)…

[Perrry]

Yes, and we would see a cloud front moving in over LFRS from west. In about 2 hours from now it would be overcast at LFRS with high clouds.

[DementedCorn327]

I am missing those fronts

[Perrry]

Yes, me too. Especially that it moved over smoothly over time without any kind of disturbances/hard transitions in clouds and stuff. I really hope to get that back again. But we may be too few that want that back.

Well, sorry i brought the METAR discussion here too. But i found it a really good example why the METAR is bad to be able to create a realistic behaving atmosphere

[ConsularBuckle4]

Wait, so METAR is CAVOK, but ATIS says Broken 13500? It sounds like ATIS does, in fact, read the MB weather, and there’s a logic implemented in the sim for that!

[Perrry]

Yes i think it does. i have compared the ATIS with Meteoblue and it often matches the height of cloudbase. But now as we all know the weather behaves strange because of the METAR implementation. And it’s hard to make good reports.

The visibility didn’t match that good with ATIS because Asobo never rendered the Meteoblue visibility data. It’s in there but not rendered. Thats why we got IFR conditions stated on ATIS but the visuals in the sim were VFR. Check weather debug tool in dev mode and you see the Meteoblue data of visibility is injected.

And if ATIS had issues report Meteoblue data at release that should have been the highest priority to fix. But instead they completely changed the whole weather model and system

[ConsularBuckle4]

For what it’s worth, I just had the most beautiful CAVOK at EGPH in the last 15 months. Clouds from MB nicely rendered BKN at about 12000 ft, and ATIS reporting them as with everything else from the METAR was correct (although, technically, ATIS could have legally left out the clouds from the report). The winter afternoon sun shone through the gaps in the cloud and the contrast at the ground was fantastic.
Moments like this …

[DementedCorn327]

Weather is really inconsistent. You was lucky to have MB clouds at 12000 ft even if METAR was saying CAVOK. In my above example I had blue sky even if ATIS (MB) was saying broken 13500 ft and METAR CAVOK. We don’t know the blending logic of METAR with MB.
Also it would be interesting to have the input from a real-life controller or pilot about the information source for ATIS. Is that coming from the local METAR at the airport or another type of observation ?, to understand if ATIS has the same limitation than METAR to report clouds only until a specific altitude.

As per Wiki: CAVOK is an abbreviation for Ceiling And Visibility OK, indicating no cloud below 5,000 ft (1,500 m) or the highest minimum sector altitude and no cumulonimbus or towering cumulus at any level, a visibility of 10 km (6 mi) or more and no significant weather change.

Update: I found this page from IVAO saying that ATIS is only reporting clouds below 5000 ft (like METAR): ATIS - IVAO - International Virtual Aviation Organisation, so I assume ATIS data source is coming from current METAR data and so should not report any cloud layers above 5000 ft even if existing.

[EdamllamaB]

ATIS has a lot of local specific information including runway in use and winds. It may occasionally include other info such as hazards or temporary closures,.

[DementedCorn327]

Winds are also coming in METAR but yes IRL ATIS can contains additional info that cannot be generated in the sim.